Variety (Jul 1937)

I 'Wednesday, July 7» 1937 FORUM VARIETY 03 ^Clrix JDwindle <ConUnued lr6m page 1> creased. There are U-lew. critics ctiu on the drama ]oh exclusively in tKe key cities. Ashton Stevens'of ?hc Herald-Examiner and Gharles Collins of the Tribune, both in^Chi- cafio are the survivors but with lit- tle to do in way of play leviewing. Lloyd Lewis, one of the younger scribes in the Loop city is J^th re- viewer and sports editor on the Ghi- c^o Daily News and is the author of a novel or two; Chicago developetf Wo of firbadway's best known, critics-^the late^riPercy -Hammond, arid Burns Mantle, active, critic of the News, ' . . . ' »In Boston two of Its best known critics died Within a: year. Most widely read was H. T. Parker, who composed loiig reviews'for theTranr- script. . Edward Harkins, yrhp has covered the stage for 25 years, is the sole remaining well known play specialist on the Hub piapers, he be- ing with the Hecbrd. Boston and Chicago have been sent most, of the road shows in the past , several sea-^ sons, with Philadelphi third.. In the latter spot, a few of the bld- imers aie around but In othei' stands they have dropped from at- tention. , ' Death and newspaper ' mergers ' were not the dhly factors in deplet- ing fhi cifilieal. ranks.; With tjie constriction of the number of shows there was a decline in revenue from the theatre. That was further les sensed by the directory, form of daily inserts in the New Ybrk press. Ini othief times ^display space frequently found theatres taking^ tfp a full page, especially in Sunday editions Amusement revenue has virttially beeii balanced, however, by splurge for motion pictures, yet that coin does not cOver: the expense of the drama departments. : New, York's critics are the youngs est grbiip of reviewers in the world. With tiie passing of Hammond, Man tie is the dean and all the others on the regular dailies, are his junior by a wide margin. A poihi. in pass- ing is that the NeWs reviewer (Man- tle ) usually covers morie shows than single critic in New York. . Few Contractces Only some of the critics in the metropolis are under contract. There , are eight flrst stringers remaining ith the suspension of the Ameri can. Gilbert Gabriel of the sheet is in the . last iseven months of a three- year contract, which ;may . be taken over by .another daily. John An- derson, of tiie Journal, is also a con tract man, it being thie Hearst sys teih to tie up its by-lihers, with the result that thie Journal's sports de partment is jammed with ined seals.. Although not under contraict, men ike Brooks Atkinson of the Times are under weekly salary through oiit the year, with little to do in the summer months. On the other hand, Anderson grinds out daily copy for the Journal. So does Doug las Gilbert, who succeeded Robert Garland on the World-Telegram, also revi ing some of the summer thea tre ideaway try-outs as did hiis predecessor. Robert Coleman, of the Mirror, alSo contributes a daily stint, ichard Lockridge of the Sun usu- ally spends a month on the rewrite desk. Richard Watts, Jr., who suc- ceeded Hammond, is on a European vacation. John Mason BrpNyn, of the Post, lisually leaves the staff during summer; write and l(ecture. Iri the days when the theatre was igh the out-of-town critics came roadway in the spring and sum- mer to look over plays which would visit their cities the foilpWing sea- BOri. That custom , hsts stopped and .only . a. few critical .visitors come to New York for that purpose every so often. While not infifequent. for dirarria.. reviewers to -cover pictures, only two film critics have become drama criticsi Watts is one and Jfordaunt Hall, formerly of the N. Y, Times, is another. He has the drama desk tin the BOstoh Transcript, ftadib has curiously failed to de- velop critics. Most of the radio columns are made.. up of comment o.r casual references to broadcasts. Variety set thie style in reviewing io and is. virtually unopposed in . . field. None of :the draitia or picture reviewers has touched radio coverage to date'" WHAT THEY THINK . For an Opiera boufle Revival BrooHlyn, N. Y, June 29. jEditor, Variety: regards arid make Nebraska, as music, a foreign couiitry? If Germany, for Instance, did not ,„... . , j , . ... .4.1. liagree to pay performing rights on With, hali: a hundred societies with, ^^gUsh song or work, then we imposing titles all aimed at the im- would niake the position reciprocal, provement of the stage, chiefly, it so it amounts to this: Nebiraska in^ would seem, through the promotion the end would have to write own of sociological brainstorms, why can- Perform itJn^ their own State, ^ - ' . • i.J and it would not have entree into not some httle gro^P J^ve a thought -^ ^tj^^r part of America. This po- 0. the revivals of the operas bot^e? sitioh would then bring them their iaif a century, ago no town of im-. senses. '. portance was wit^iout its summer . At ah earlier date you reproduced season of light operas. Today thie a letter of rhine in your issue of best we get is the occasional appear^ July 22 last, and I would likie to say ance of the Gilbert and SuUivan since then the evils that .1 pointed scores and the intermittent revival out in that letter have been put of some of the .old Shubert successes, rijght in this country-r-special ai:- The answer, I suppose, is th^t the L-artg^ments -are not only being sup- old timers are regarded as outnabded. I piigd by pubUsheifs, band leaders the, public seems interested in buy- ing is songs which have come less from- necessity and more; from in- spiration. This, it sieems to me at least, is the real reason that popular songs; are reaching hew lows in sheet sales. ichdrd imbcr. are getting more money, and broad- casting fees are nearly doubled. I mehtibn this hoping that you may take a little notice of what I have said eairlier in this letter, as .1 really, do feel if .a New York pub- Perhaps theiy aire, but they still are more tuneful than the more recent Output. When has New York seeh Fati itza," 'The Grand Duchess,' Boccacio,' 'Princess: Of Trebizonde/ Maritana' and their ilk? Or getting closer to the present 4ay, what has I,. , u ji- * ^ u become of ^Black Hussar,"The Lady were handling, one of my pub- or the Tiger.' 'Falka,'.mdjy' and ^^atjons.! woiUd iwt other tuners of that era? handle it if I thought that the State; They all carry better, more tuner of Nebraska could perform my ful melodies than the machine-made works, without paying .a. fee, output of more recent times, and We have our troubles here, but I many' have served to supply sugges- airi sure over there you have more, tion if not .inspiratibni to the mod- and I can only feel that in the end, ern cOmposersr \. iafter all the; money iii litigaltiori that I bielieve ^hat, such a venture, has been spent, it will.bpiJL down.to Woiild meet With some, favorable re- one thing again, arid that.is the pub- sponse 'coiild they ;be done with the lisher who. holds the copyright of .a bld eclat. That probably would prove song will have the control of Vthat the obstacle, for where can we find copyright and the performing of today siich finely trained troupers that work through ASCAP where as De Wolf Hopper, Digby and Laura ever the song is played, ahd that he Joyce Bell. Mathilde X:otrelly,. Mar-| should be paid within reason for ion Manola, Bertha Ricci, to men- tion only a few. Perhaps i am old-fashioned and talking out of ritiy turn, but I ani convinced that an adequate Sfcsen- the performanice of any of the works that he controls. I ath sure: your legal department, with all the knowledge and the facts at their hands, could publish a solii- ^ion: o4;the^old timers wy^^ stbp all this expensive liti^ acceptable to a host of modems. Why cannot the Metropolitan, in ■ ' , . ■ . , . ,, its-supplemental spring sSsoh, give In conclusion you might say. wel us a week of the old timers? It what has it got to^do with you. It would be interesting. It might prove only concerns us here inasmuch as • • - ^ . . . I certam ..of our works may be lii-^ Yoived. Yours faithfully. MACMELODIES, LTD. ■F. AfcJifiltan.^ Manaising Director. risnumeratiye^ It certainly would be eDdightening. Dudley Carson. No Weeps for P0or Vaudeville fiditor, yAFtiETy : it's , all . this crying ;about where hias gobd old vaiide ,gone to? iVs gone the way;.Of all'junk. It ^yas no good, that's, why, it. has" "di'sap- peiared. And .don't tell me it's coming back; Why should it? When you can gp into a picture theatre and see two pictures for a quarter, with a lot of real entertainment, why bother with paying twice as much, to hear a lot of stale jokes? As for thie hullabaloo about the poor actors:who can't get jobs—^why; let 'erii : eat cake. The good actors get jobs i ictures, or radio! .M GdrfLnklei^ Lively Trading CContinued from page 4)' Mr. radford's Got Somethln' There BaltimOire, July i. Editor, Variety: If evidence wiere needed to prove I Gene Ga.rricb's Performance the utter lack of busihess sense in Hollywood, July 2. the picture industry, the high prices . ^ paid for recent - stage successes *«"<"^» variety would prove the point amply. I was very anxious to read your A company pays $100,000 or more reyieW of 'The Road Back.' because for the rights to a Broadway hit, when Variety gives you a rating, with the proviso that the picture I'vie always felt it meant something, may not be released until th<e end oiE That is why I was particularly dis- the run. This automatically pre- appointed when Kdu/picked but, my vents the company from making a bit as 'outstanding' (the word is picture of this type^ but every other yours), but gave Noah Beery, Jr., producer ill hurry; into work a the credit for it. Beery, Jr.. was the picture along similar linies, and by boy Who died on the road back, but the time the .purchaser of the stage I did the impersonation of dementia rights is ready to produce the edge praecOif. has beeri! completely takell off by I'm not writing a beef, but pub the pirated versions. This has been licity is important when you're just the Case evier since Universal bought beginning in this business and this 'Broadway;' only to have it go stale role was my first in pictures, So on its hands after every other com- [there is my story, pany had cleaned up. The irtelliigent procedure would seem to be to pay the play producer for the immediate rights, the play being withdrawn after the picture is released. It does not seem too much to ask, in view of the large purchase price. All the film company gets is the title, and titles alone do not niean much. The whole idea seems to be screwy. . Janies Bradford. Himber's (or New York, Editor, Variety: ■ Probatily the vtiosi consistent ifail- ure on: the. radio is ihe kverage chiU diren's. prograin. Many of them are initiated,, have a short-lived place iii. radio's schedules ;. and,.. then pass away. Radio lords hardly be ex- pected to turn oiit daily works which will stand on par with the rare crea- tions of Lewis Ciariroll and Edward tieair, but it doies seem ..they could approach the problerii of presenting childreiji's programs with less con- descension, less of. the , adult view- point. The whole thing falls short wHen radio forgets or ignores to inject the childish imagination, childish naturalness. The first thing to rem- edy this .situation would ostensibly be to discard , the sexy .songs iahd sophisticated: 6omedy that is pre^nt throughout most. of the. afternoon programs ahd Sunday attempts, jgj^arely indeed I has a radio pro- %Wer captured the real naivete of children. In&tead they aim at a completely artificial, manufactured plot that has no more imagination quiality than .^a .complete satisfactloh, (even in the mind of the youngest) that the impossible Is still impossible. Let's go! Radio has just :about worked wonders witii the adult en- tertainment in the evenings, the; women's programs in the morning and early alfternoon. Let's see some action for the kids.: Whaddyesay? Lee Wiley. Ansermet to Raviha »"nst Ansermet. Swiss natoner, ,5;rrived in N.: Y. Monday from Euroije, Left immediately to conduct the summer symph series at Ravina °a»k, Chicago. .'s) Theory , July i. Editor, Variety: The perennial question; what's the cause for sheet music sales slumps? Oh so many people try answer this iiuestion and always end up by an involved discussion and indict- ment of radi What could; illier? True, on one Pbiht:\ shprlened the life span of m'usjc. Ro jo has ob- Editor, Variety;. 1 viously 'killed' a number of tunes After reading w^k after > week- quicker. than might have been ..the consistently about litigatiori,, argu- song's life span. Yet, radi is :rtot. crferenJes and such that have- responsible for the continual de- been going oh in regard .to the mat- creasmg^ sales i sheet musi lo Deen goiijg uii • ° ..^ ni ght have cut the sales from a ter of mu..c ^^J^J^^^^Son Sates m Uibn to a half million for the big rious. States., and that^ce^^^^ it is paying performing in America are ing to, get away with the fact' that they should not pay performing fees—it struck me that your paper, in knowing and publishing all the facts, would have come to the conclusion as J that the only people, who may benefit from this long litigation are the legal.pro- ^fes.sion. , . In your issue of June 2, for in- stance, you quote that the Nebriaska law is^'framed along the lines rCr cently passed by the Florida ill, Whjch gives the purchaser of a piece of mu.si the automatic right to per- form it without further cost. To any. inded nrian whp' knows about the /music busine.><s this is dreadful.' .Why not cut all •• liU aiion. and arguing rights for that sli No, another,, and more: logical cause, seems to be the real reason. The answer lies piit, in Hollywood where your sprigs are turned out for special picture situations. The songs a;re swell i the Im, but ithout the special situation they' are. in- significant. This is not a cohipletcly accurate statement because there are songs which are natural hits and the/" .Tiay c.ome from pictures. ]BUt in general'it seems ]o{^.ic!ii: th,at' the rapid death , ich overtakes the sor!j5!...is attributable i i"eat part to the. films. if the song, keeps ing plav^d. dn the air, and gel.s ia.s many plugs, a.s nbn-picline ».*.,- that won'M^make. the p.u ' ' What itery Mixinr Philadelphi July 1. Editor, Variety: I am glad to seie. your paper turn- ing the jspbtlight on the growing practice; of requiring women cabaret entertainers to mingle with the male ciistomers to encourage the sale of drinks. The/evii-;—and.it is an evil—seeriis. to be spreading rapidly and can have only one result; the eventual exit of the supper rooms. Actresses who Will 'work the wine room,' to use the bid'expression, do not have to be clever. Clever women will riot submit to this semii-prbstitution. The. entertainment value of these ven-. ;tures will be, reduced to. so low a level that they will cease to attract patroiiage, and one more, phase the aniusement business will have gohe to join the now defunct bur- lesque and vaudeville shows. I The cabarets are about the last stand of the single entertainers. It' would be regretable |f the cupi ity and shOrt-sightedriie.ss Of their own- ers shut, this last dpor to the old- time variety acts and Itheir; succes- sors. Heriry J./Colli^on. for featured, players. Players thi that: a good thing. It gets them around, prevents thern from going stale or typed, gets them accustomed to the. ways of. diffierent: directors and fellow players,. Fredric; March is one of the grow- irig number, of stars ;who insist on getting 4»round froni .studip, to studio. In March's case the' Idea 'has worked. put to his advantage^ so much so that: Joan Crawford currently is un- derstood to be contemplating a siitii- lar pblicy When, her contract with' Metro expires around six months hence. Miss ■ Gaynor, parted • froni 20th-Fox and her next, appearance Was in Selznick's 'A Stair Is Born.* Now-.she is rbputed dickering with Selznick for a contract calling for $200,000 a picture. With half a dozen players under contract, Wanger has been probably the .most aciive individual in the star auction: market. In the last year^ for example, Madeleine Carroll has toiled, for plenty of bosses nbt. her own—in 20th-Fox's *0n the Avenue,* Selz- nick's.'Prisoner of Zenda.' Cblumbia'si 'It's AH Yours.* Boyier has played with Dietrich in *A:llah' and G^ta Garbo In 'Madame Walewska,'' and goes next to Warners with Miss Col- bert in 'Tovarich.' Sylvia Sidney has been with GbldWyn and Para- mount; If^enry Fonda is to. be fea- tured in two Warner flhris. Wanger Takes.. Chances Wanger's policy ;is. to lend his players out freely but only for top rank, pictures which, he feels, .will improve. their box; office: stature. He must know the. story, director and supporting cast before he. will sign for the services of bne of his players. he is just as free and just as ex- acting in ' borrowing and recently hsis made use of Joan BlondeU, Jean Arthur, Warner Baxter and Leslie Howard from elsewhere, Wanger applauds the new star idea, of refusing to tie. themselves with term contracts but believes thi will work out to the best advantage only when they hook in with top- notch indies such as Selznick. Gbld- wyn or Mervyn LeRoy. Radio has numerous contract play- ers: biit most of them are iistially to be found elsiewhere than on their own lots. Thus Miss Stanwyck, Fred Stone and Herbert Marshall are con- tracted for six each annually but seldom make more than^ two at. home. 'By selecting two fine stbries and lending them out to bthier studios fgr top class pictures,* said S. . J. Briski 'they appear in half a dozen superior parts and score half a dozen hits^-and go on to greater popularity/ 'Interchan£;e of players,'sai . Darryl Zahuck, 'both with Europe and in Hollywood, can be a good thing for .the industry. It depends mainly on the vehicles for which the players are lent.* Odlunt (Continued from page 3) Ediiorf Variety: • According to the Pbitiiary colurhris. the ..'origipal' Little Eva. of' 'Uncle Tom's Cabi ' is passing from.the p.i -• liire ith increasing frequency. iScarcely an "issue ux* what nounces the death aiipther 'ox\^r inal.'.and yet the .record is unusually clear;; . The first seriPus prrsentation of a play based ph lhe .Stowe story was made in Troy in, 1852, with Cordelia Hovi^ard as . the Angel Child, Sie- cause of the suGces.s of the play ahd the absence ,ipf copyright rolcctlon, chance to be bienefited by.a pdssi alteration in the R.C. claim. The reason for present keen inter- est in the R.C. claim situation is (fue to recent riemarks made, in open court by the special master which might be iriterpreted as indication of dissatisfaction with the proposed, settlement.terms. Disposition of the RKO first-run film franchise on Broadway and the future .operations of the R.C. Musi kail and the Center theatre are in-- separable links of the proposed settlement and this claim, itself. Any change in that situiittion thus opuld; dlter ihe Broadway first-run. setup at large. Among other matters of the RKO reorganization situation in. Which the trade sind creditors are' genierally in- j terested the ppssible .findings , i which the special master may make I regarding the status oiE the Old RKO ' (:lass_M.* shareholders. One or two of .the*ri inal holders of this clasij of stoclt are ampng: disputants of .the plan. there were scores of 'Tom' shows produced within a short period, but they none of them had origihal Little Evas, That hbnor belongs to Troy, and .the record is so clear th.'it it is amazing that newspapers should, credit all these varipus claims.- Tom